Japan has so many mascot — serving as ambassadors of everything from specificprefecturesto city police department — that it can be severe to keep track of them . But after upsetting citizen with his unconventional way , one unofficial mascot in the Japanese city of Susaki has bring up enough outrage to get the attention of city officials , The New York Timesreports .
The disceptation started last year when Susaki named a veridical - life fame otter to be its honorary tourism embassador . Soon after , Chiitan — a costumed mascot inspire by the real otter — began appearing in public and in telecasting share on social media . The equipment ? Susaki already had an official costumed mascot — Shinjo - kun , a character base on the now - out Japanese river otter . But the conflict between the two otter mascots quickly became unmistakable .
Viral videos show Chiitan taking part in dangerous and occasionally creepy-crawly stunts . The character has been filmedflippinga car , bike on ahalf - pipe , and skateboarding on a treadmill . In one video captioned " Chiitan going to visit your house , " the devilish mascot can be seen pulling a baseball bat from a locker , insert it into its costume , and walking out of the elbow room .
Even though Chiitan has n’t been officially endorsed by Susaki , he already has 906,000 followers onTwitter — most twice that of theactual otterthe character is found on .
For all his fan , Chiitan has also attracted plenty of critic , with the city of Susaki get more than 100 complaints about the rogue role ’s inappropriate doings . The metropolis has no power to get rid of Chiitan , but it did electnotto reincarnate the real otter ’s honorary touristry ambassador status as a agency of voice their disapproval of the unsanctioned mascot it inspired .
Mascots have become pop public relations tools in Japan , but commonly they ’re much more family - friendly . In 2017 , the Nipponese government name Pikachu anofficial ambassadorin an endeavour to advance Osaka as a server city candidate for the World Expo 2025 .
[ h / tThe New York Times ]
